On the track, Swift wastes no time in addressing someone who made her look like a “fool”:

I don’t like your little gamesDon’t like your tilted stageThe role you made me playOf the fool, no, I don’t like youI don’t like your perfect crimeHow you laugh when you lie

Soon after, she sings about looking for revenge:

I’ve got a list of names and yours is in red underlinedI check it once, then I check it twice, oh!Ooh, look what you made me do

She even leaves the old version of herself behind towards the end of the song. “I’m sorry the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now,” she says. “Why? Because she’s dead.” It’s possible that this references one of the most dramatic moments of her feud with Kanye West.

In 2016, she spoke out against the lyrics of his song “Famous,” calling them misogynistic and claiming she had no knowledge of them beforehand. However, Kim Kardashian later leaked footage of a phone call between Swift and Kanye where the singer verbally approved of the lyrics and claimed that she would tell the media she knew about it all along. This led to her Instagram comments being flooded with snake emojis, which she referenced with her recent social media posts:

The song could also be inspired by her recent legal battle. Swift recently emerged victorious in a sexual assault lawsuit she brought against former radio host David Mueller, whom she claimed groped her at a meet-and-greet event in Denver. After he was fired from his job over the allegations, he sued her, but the judge threw out Mueller’s case and awarded Swift a victory. She had countersued for a symbolic $1.